Young Peoples and Human Rights Ghana

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Jhpiego 2011 Midwifery Champion of the Year From: Jhpiego News < news@jhpiego.net > Date: Fri, June 24, 2011 10:41 am To: macdarlingc@cepehrg.net Having trouble viewing this email? Click here Jhpiego presents Nepal's Maiya Manandhar with the 2011 Midwifery Champion of the Year award in ceremonies at the International Confederation of Midwives Congress in Durban, South Africa, before a crowd of 1,600 midwives. Manandhar, a nursing supervisor, senior hospital nursing administrator and skilled birth trainer, was selected from a competitive group of nominations that were solicited from the World Health Organization (WHO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and International Confederation of Midwives. A witness to her mother'

Senegal protesters vow to block third term for president People power forces Abdoulaye Wade to abandon constitutional changes smoothing his re-election path Share 94   reddit this Reuters in Dakar guardian.co.uk , Friday 24 June 2011 18.17 BST Article history Protestors opposeed to President Abdoulaye Wade confront riot police outside the national assembly in Senegal's capital, Dakar. Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters Anti-government protesters in  Senegal  vowed to intensify their campaign to block President Abdoulaye Wade from standing in next year's election after street demonstrations forced him to back down over constitutional changes. The capital Dakar was calm on Friday after violence on Thursday prompted Wade to abandon proposed changes to election law that appeared designed to smooth his path to re-election in February 2012. The protests, which saw more than 100 people injured, energised his vocal but mostly diso

At AIDS Summit, UN Must Focus on Key Populations and Human Rights to Meet Goal of Zero New Infections   As new reports reaffirm importance of key populations, Global Forum on MSM & HIV calls for commitment to evidence and human rights in UN political declaration on AIDS   June 8, 2011 (New York) - As country delegations to the United Nations gather this week to strengthen their commitment to ending the global HIV epidemic by issuing a new political declaration on AIDS, the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) calls for a re-thinking of global AIDS strategy that elevates evidence-based policies, key populations, and human rights as core pillars of the response.   "Now 30 years into the epidemic, we know that the most effective strategies have been the ones based on evidence, with research informing their targets and delivery," said Dr. George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF.  "In many cases, that evidence has called for attention to key populations like gay

Prof. Mike Oquaye, MP for Dome-Kwabenya The Second Deputy Speaker, Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye, walked to Parliament yesterday with a special message for Ghanaians. Homosexuality and Lesbianism, he said, must end now, since it was an abomination in the Ghanaian society. “Madam Speaker, in recent times, homosexuality and lesbianism – sources of such strange diseases – have hit our shores. The stories we hear are very grim. In the Western nations, homosexuals are being ordained priests. Men are marrying men in the church, and women are marrying women, and they are being blessed in the Church. Today, there are special clubs, we are told, where our young men are sodomised on a regular basis. “We read reports of how this has spread into our secondary schools. For how long should we simply look on? How do we have a society where a woman wife, who is married to a woman husband, buys sperm for insemination, gets pregnant, and the resultant child is taught to call a woman as father? I believe th

Celebrated Ghanaian songstress Mzbel spent the weekend weeping in police cells and would this morning be processed for court. Mzbel, aged 31, and two other accomplices were arrested by officials of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) for physically assaulting a uniformed policeman on official duty. The musician and two others were reported to have deliberately run their Mitsubishi 4x4 vehicle with registration number GR 9470-11 into the policeman who fell on the bonnet of the vehicle They then speed off and drove for a distance, with the policeman still hooked dangerously on the bonnet while eyewitnesses screamed at the horror of what was happening. Their vehicle was eventually forced to stop when it was crossed by a private security van. Police sources said when Mzbel got out of the Mitsubishi, she started yelling at the cop, claiming he had no right to cross their way. The musician got more physical and held the uniformed policeman by the neck in an attempt to strangle him wh

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) said Wednesday that it had initiated a series of focused surveillance activities for HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), as it had envisaged such risks as a result of the increase in gay activities in the country. The surveillance is directed among the Most at Risk Populations (MARPS). A statement issued in Accra by Dr Angela El-Adas, Director-General of the GAC in reaction to reports of gay activities, said the MSM (Men having Sex with Men) situation in Ghana was an issue that we cannot not run away from. “The work of the reported NGO that registered up to 8,000 MSM, if true, may just be a microcosm of the real situation on the ground. Activities of MSM may predispose some of them and their other heterosexual partners to HIV. It is important therefore to have the requisite data for planning HIV prevention and treatment interventions.” The commission said a study was being implemented by GAC as part of a broader initiative to conduct HIV and

The One Show on VIASAT 1 this week began on a very thought provocative note as it dissected the very taboo subject of homosexuality and its impact on the Ghanaian society. In a move that perhaps will find a place in the annals of television history in Ghana, the show’s producers succeeded in bringing audience closer to the ins and outs of the subject and what it portends for the current generation. In a shocking television first, a reformed homosexual Alhassan Baba Mamudu came under a good number of questioning from host PY Addo Boateng who sought to find out what must have contributed to his past experience as a gay. Mamudu who said he comes from an active Christian upbringing, told PY his encounter with the practice began in the Senior High School he attended which happened to be an all Boys Boarding School, whose name he declined to mention. According to him he was involved in this act for quite some time before a divine intervention from came to his rescue. “When you are into such

U.S. HIV/Aids Funding Agency May Force Nation to Mainstream Gay, Lesbian Rights  Henry Neondo May 25, 2011 Nairobi Star   New funding policy guidelines issued on Saturday by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) could force countries like Kenya who are strongly opposed to men having sex with men to backtrack.   On Saturday in the US, PEPFAR, a major contributor of funds to fight HIV/Aids in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya is the leading recipient of its funding at $510 million - Sh43.4 billion - every year) released a new Technical Guidance on Combination HIV Prevention for men who have sex with men (MSM) designed to be used by Country Missions. The guidelines call measures to be put in place to address human rights, legal barriers and homophobia in HIV response for MSM.   The PEPFAR MSM guidance comes at a time when MSM in low and middle-income countries are on average 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population.